To hear New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams tell it, a good barometer of what happens in Sunday's game against the St. Louis Rams will be found on one of his favorite spots on the field: One yard behind the center.

That roving mark is one Williams has long contended is a critical battlefield in football. The unit that controls it the most has the best chance of moving the football or thwarting said movement.

And while the Saints might not have the kind of gaudy stack stats put up by some defensive lines, they are dominating the space right behind the center and guards, which bottles up the quarterback and is the first domino in terms of stuffing the run.

But it's not a spot the television camera or average fan pay much attention to, and thus the success the Saints have had - they are currently ranked third in the NFL in passing defense - is more subtle, Williams said.

"Because we pressure so much, you need to take a stopwatch and time the release point of the quarterback, and when it averages 2.14 (seconds) as it did this past weekend, you can rush on air and not get there," he said. "So because we pressure so much we are telling the quarterback he has to throw it and he has to get it quick or otherwise he's going to get hit."

That won't be any different today when talented rookie Sam Bradford leads the St. Louis Rams against New Orleans. Bradford has the qualities that stamp top quarterbacks - quick release, pinpoint accuracy, brains - and Williams said once again it will be as important for the Saints to own that moving piece of real estate just behind the line of scrimmage as the line is itself.

Williams praised the Rams staff for, "assimilating an offensive philosophy that condensed for a young quarterback." In practical terms, that means often using maximum blocking protection schemes, relying on play action calls, and giving Bradford multiple easy targets and allowing the pocket to roll.

All of that makes it much harder for pass rushers to get him in their crosshairs. But whether the Saints are able to put a lick on Bradford or not - and no NFL defense comes into a game hoping for 'not' in that matter - the pass defense will hinge on often overlooked details, according to Williams.

"Right now we're a pressure team because we mask and hide deficiencies in certain areas we might have," he said. "But what we do have is smart, tough football players. Those guys are good guys and they understand our style of play and you'll see that a little bit this weekend in our style of play and what we choose to do against St. Louis."

The precise tactical moves Williams declined to divulge Saturday, but the overall strategy is one that doesn't fluctuate.

"What you do is you try to make sure the quarterback doesn't know what you're in before the ball is snapped," he said. "So we're going to have to do a good job of that with our pre-snap alignments."